Posts Tagged ‘bylines’
Freelance life under lockdown
I am home in the family abode in Sussex and England is under lockdown. It will end in December but, for now, most things are closed, and many are working from home.
When I left Japan, in September, and finally returned home I did not expect that the situation, in Europe and England, would get worse. But it did.
For whatever reasons [widespread mask use; good hygiene; differences in social customs], Japan never really experienced huge spikes in cases of Covid-19, despite being a densely populated archipelago of 126 million.
From March to September, of this year, a hostel in a shopping arcade in Fukuoka, the biggest city on the southern island of Kyushu, was my home. And I made it work. I would shop at my local supermarket, often venturing there late in the evening to snap up bargains. I cooked in the hostel’s kitchen. I worked in the common area. I even entertained guests (Hi Heloisa and Debs!) at my hostel, cooking for them, or just drinking away splendid evenings.
I wrote articles for the BBC in the evening, while hostel guests chatted with me, and I had to politely tell them “yeah, I’ve got to finish this” and the next day I’d wake up and the article would be published for millions to read around the world. I filed stories about China and about Japan, for the likes of Business Insider, BBC, and The National.
Anyway, all that is now in the past. Usually when I go on one of my stints of travel, I am wistful and nostalgic about them afterwards. And although I do miss aspects of living in Fukuoka (mostly these aspects are derived from the fact Fukuoka is a city of many people and I have finally realised I enjoy city life) this time, even though I am under lockdown in parochial England, living a quiet life of rural runs and PlayStation, I do not feel so nostalgic about that time. Mostly because there were periods of stress, pressure, and misery in that hostel, while pandemic lockdowns bloomed around the world.
Over the past weeks, I’ve been busy, falling into a mostly satisfying schedule of pitching, reporting and writing my freelanced articles. Very recently, however, my productivity has plummeted. And I think this is because I’ve been straining against my real inclination. Recently, I’ve wanted to concentrate on working on my own writing. My creative projects: essays, nonfiction, and fiction. That’s the stuff I’m truly passionate about.
Journalism is great and I’m so grateful that I’m still employed and earning, doing a job that is varied, interesting, and full of feedback (even if it is not the most remunerative in the world). But we all have our true obsessions and literature happens to be mine. I just couldn’t get to it as much as I could recently; I couldn’t dedicate my time and attention, my sole focus, to it; and I raged at having to finish the work I had to do, on time, and as close to the lofty standards I set myself. Perhaps it is this friction that can lead to some form of burnout.
Lockdown is boring, of course, but with these restrictions and limitations I don’t feel it’s a limitation on creativity per se. Having a sheltered time to read good books and to think about writing is ideal for me (although obviously I wish I had the option to do other things as well).
For now I can only bide my time and work on the things I care about, write the things that earn the money I need and save up for the travel that will, eventually, be open again. Patience and forbearance have always been virtues. While angst, resentment, and despair have never been very useful emotions however “appropriate” to the current situation they may be.
My writing life
It’s been some time since I last updated this blog. I just haven’t felt the need or energy to do so. I focused on paying gigs and the secret writing I do in my spare time. And the blog inevitably took a backseat.
I’ve been enjoying reading, ripping through Tolkien’s The Children of Hurin (a good yarn), finishing Rachel Cusk’s Outline (deep and precise), and enjoying Tim Marshall’s Prisoners of Geography (clear-eyed and illuminating). I’ve also been gaming a lot, completing The Last of Us Part II and starting Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. And watching a lot of movies and shows. Hashtag lockdown life.
Bylines, bylines, bylines
I was delighted to debut in my first literary journal, a piece of nonfiction for nature writing journal The Willowherb Review. I wrote about videogames, the nature within videogames, my journey from China to England (and vice versa), and traveling to the Philippines:
I spent two months while I was in Japan interviewing the right people, getting endless feedback from my editor, researching and learning about wind turbine design, the energy situation in Japan, climate change and typhoons to write this 2,000-word piece for BBC Future Planet:
The wind turbines standing up to the world’s worst storms
I also spent an ordinate amount of time researching and interviewing for this in-depth feature for Business Insider, exploring why Japan’s software industry kinda sucks:
I had fun writing about how I got hooked on Call of Duty: Mobile’s mode ‘Attack of the Undead’, while I was living in Japan, for UK publication GAMINGbible:
The Undead of ‘Call of Duty: Mobile’ Got Me Through Lockdown
Bylines, bylines, bylines
This is a byline.
In the beginning, when the world was fresh and ready for the taking, a byline was the most coveted thing. Every rookie journalist trades in bylines, viewing them as a currency in which to get minted. This currency can’t buy you anything except prestige and status; self-worth, plus the envy of your peers; and career advancement.
When I read multimedia journalism at Bournemouth University I was obsessed with getting bylines, especially if they were associated with top-level publications. Through this obsession, and vanity, I was determined to be published in a national newspaper in the first year of my degree. I’d go online and find the switchboard phone numbers of editors of national newspapers and call them up. I’d cold-pitch the editors over the phone (they’d invariably reply with, “oh, send me an email”).
I was eventually published online and in print in The Guardian in my first year and I was happy. But one byline is never enough. You want more and more.
Later, when I moved to Beijing, the obsession continued. I was eager to spread my name as widely as possible. So, I’d pitch titles I’d never worked with before. I’d aim for the biggest names. The Atlantic. Aljazeera. CNN. Daily Telegraph. New Statesman. Etc.
Looking back, I think this strategy has its pros and cons. It is perhaps the fastest way to jump-start your freelance journalism career. If you have some clips in first-rate publications commissioning editors will be assuaged of your competence. And be more likely to give you the greenlight. But it’s not as important as you may think. In my experience a lot of editors are willing to give novice writers a try as long as they see signs of your sanity and competence and are piqued by whatever story idea you’ve pitched them.
But really, a successful freelance career is not about collecting bylines, as such, but about collecting good editors. Making, and cultivating, good relationships with editors is very important. Developing a relationship with publications is important. You can get a lot of work from publications this way. And these editors will move on to other media, and if you’ve worked with them well, they will remember you, and possibly bring you with them.
For journalists starting out, I’d advise you to gain those bylines, for sure, but after having gained some, to also think about what kind of things you want to write about and which editors, and publications, you’d like to develop a relationship with. Relationships, ultimately, underpin almost everything we do in life.
My writing life
I’ve recently been running more and trying out new routes
I have two big commissions on which I am still working hard. And, I added another. But I’ve been able to finish two others. I’ve been tired and my brain capacity and bandwidth are overloaded. But I feel an almost contented numbness. But the tiredness is there; the mental exhaustion.
A top tip: don’t reduce exercise during these times. I’ve increased my running sessions because I know that the physical exertion actually unknots some of that mental tiredness. I would prefer to swim as I’m a keen swimmer but running is simple. The release of putting on my trainers and kicking away.
Recent bylines
Business Insider — Meet Colin Huang, who just stepped down as CEO of $100 billion Pinduoduo
BBC Worklife — Why China Skipped Email
Nikkei Asian Review — British Chinese, long low-profile, worry about place in UK society
I’ve had two new bylines and another byline in the BBC. The latter did quite well online, with a lot of interest. It’s all gratifying but I keep sailing on. And I also finally finished an essay, a piece of creative nonfiction, that I worked on for several months, for a literary journal. Writing is the gift that keeps on giving!
3 month update: freelancing in Beijing
Moving somewhere new can take a lot out of you. Uncertainty rests sharply between your shoulders, and that’s just on the flight over. Once you arrive you have to go out and secure somewhere halfway decent to live; a job or some source of income; and local markers of routine.
Once you find those things you move upward into essential inessentials: regular people to hang out with, a good coffee shop, companionship, sex. And even once you settle (which can take longer than expected) loneliness and homesickness can still strike.
January is a tough month anyway, the cold and SAD creeps into the consciousness. I’m oscillating between feeling really motivated, for new projects, things that can be done in this bright new year, and extreme boredom, wondering at the general futility of it all.
Since I’ve been here, I’ve only freelanced ONE article: a long piece about entrepreneurship in Beijing for the New Statesman. I was commissioned for two last month, which is keeping me occupied currently – December and January are slow months for freelance anyway.
But I’ve had a full-time job so freelance has taken a backseat.
Pitching is like a video game. You win or you don’t. When you’re starting out, each commission feels like Christmas. It’s getting paid for an idea, for your writing. And you get bylines. It feels great. But once you pitch enough you realize you have to treasure each pitch. This year I want to throw out bigger hooks and catch bigger fish.
2014 needs to be the year where I do something big, risk more, settle into the journalism projects that I really want to do.
Write a book? Work on big articles? Make videos? A multimedia project? Start a business? Bigger projects can result in bigger returns, at least that’s the hypothesis I want to test.
The end of 2013 (October – December) has been mostly up. I got a job, fell into a couple of fast paced blaze & burn(ed) relationships, traveled with family, got new readers of this blog, made little progress with my Chinese, ended up with a good handful of bylines.
But there’s always a little rut from which you, and only you, can drive yourself out of. I will spend the next 6 weeks focused on that so in February I’ll be on upward momentum. Thanks to all those who have read and continue to read. Have an eventful 2014.
Lu-Hai Liang 